Mac
users prepare to usher in a new generation of connectivity via
Thunderbolt or dabble in USB 3.0 via third-party cards. PC vendors add
USB 3.0 ports. Still, the majority of users are currently relying on
storage connectivity via FireWire, USB 2.0 or eSATA. Furthermore, the
ever-decreasing cost of storage, the ever-increasing need for capacity
brought about by solid-state workflows and the demand for
ever-increasing throughput due to higher-data-rate video formats make
RAID a necessity.We’re going to take a quick look at several lower-cost RAID options that represent possible storage solutions for individual workstations. These solutions fall into essentially two categories: RAIDs with internal controllers and those with dedicated controller cards.
As a very quick review of terminology, RAID 0 refers to a group of disks merely striped with no redundancy. RAID 0 will obviously be the fastest of all categories, since no other redundant writing operations are needed. RAID 1 mirrors the data. Generally, RAID 1 is not suitable for editing operations owing to slowdowns, but it can be very useful where more redundancy is needed. For example, in a field situation, offload the day’s shoot from your solid-state media to a RAID 1. Your data is mirrored and doubly protected until you return to the studio to edit. Video professionals are tending to settle around RAID 5, in which parity is striped across all drives in the array, allowing the failure of one drive. RAID 6 allows the failure of two drives. read more...